Responses favour public transport

Development of affordable public transport should be given priority in solving Nelson and Tasman's traffic challenges, say most of those who forwarded views to the draft regional land transport strategy.

A two-day Nelson Regional Transport Committee hearing was to start on Tuesday, allowing groups and individuals from among the 620 submissions to comment.

The "mark II" strategy emphasised the option of better public transport as opposed to the building of new roads and 339 submissions, or 55 per cent, listed it as a top priority.

Nelson City Council transport manager Andrew James said in a summary of the report that there was general support for passenger transport proposals, provided they were affordable and the Tasman District Council contributed its share.

The analysis of submissions found that of the 620 submissions, 19, or three per cent, did not support public transport as a preferred option.

Almost 500 responses were from Nelson residents and a further 61 were from Tasman. The remainder were from outside the region, or did not state where they lived.

Fifty-one per cent of people favoured the change in direction in the revamped strategy, which followed the work done last year on the North Nelson to Brightwater corridor study. The contentious document attracted criticism from many quarters and prompted more than 6000 submissions from people concerned about the planned three-laning of Rocks Rd and Waimea Rd.

Many still considered that a "southern link", the most common term of reference used for the southern corridor roading option, was necessary to alleviate congestion and to divert traffic off Rocks Rd.

Mr James said some were sceptical that passenger transport would be successful.

The Nelson district chairman of the New Zealand Automobile Association, Gary Stocker, said the AA supported development of public transport but that would not solve traffic congestion problems on its own.

"We further believe that the most efficient and safest route for an express bus service from Richmond to Nelson and return would be along a southern link route," Mr Stocker said in the AA's submission.

Sustainable Transport Futures spokeswoman Katy Steele said it was "critical for environmental, economic and social reasons" to plan an integrated land transport system that improved the efficiency of the existing road networks in preference to building new roads.

The organisation also believed planning could not be done in isolation from Tasman, as the transport needs of each region were "deeply interconnected".

The AA shared the view that any regional strategy had to include the Tasman district. Mr Stocker said the AA wanted the two councils to form one regional transport committee to produce one regional strategy.

The former joint council regional transport committee split in disagreement over parts of the former draft strategy. Each council then formed its own transport committee, but the two have since pledged to work cooperatively.

Tasman regional transport committee chairman Trevor Norriss said it was the committee's intention to work together in a spirit of goodwill when developing strategies and programmes.

- © Fairfax NZ News